It has been smooth sailing for all of this time. Hashirama didn't expect it to go south just when they were about to leave.
Half an hour later, the Six-Clan coalition reached the mine.
The six patriarchs stood in the front of the formation, then Nara's patriarch shouted, "Senju Patriarch, thank you for your hard work. As a way to show our gratitude, we will let you off with 20% of the ore."
Hashirama didn't look like he paid him any attention, he at Masahiko, and the former looked back at him and gave him a little nod.
Hashirama moved forward a few steps, then he shouted, "Mokuton-World of Trees Wall!" The landscape around him suddenly crackled, and roots started to emerge from the ground. The battlefield suddenly turned into a lush forest.
"Everyone attack! Big brother's roots will not attack our people!" Tobirama let out a battle cry and charged first, then Senju Sora soon followed.
Masahiko didn't charge rashly; instead, he took a few steps backward.
The six patriarchs looked at each other, then the Nara patriarch shouted, "Attack!"
Then, except for the Hatake patriarch, the other five went to surround Hashirama.
It seems that the Hatake's patriarch was looking for Masahiko.
Masahiko smiled and waved his hands. "Oy, is it the Hatake Patriarch? You and I don't have to participate now, why don't you accompany this old man to sit here and watch the battle?"
The Hatake patriarch looked coldly at Masahiko, then he nodded slowly, and sat down next to Masahiko with a sword in his hand. After a while, the Hatake patriarch said, "You and I will fight, and I will win it in a flash… but it's not because they want me to."
Masahiko looked at him and felt irritated, his mouth was twitching on one side, and he almost couldn't restrain the urge to jump and fight him.
The Inizuka Patriarch saw that and couldn't help but ask Nara: "Don't worry about him, the five of us are enough for the Senju Patriarch, and as long as he's keeping that Uzumaki guy away from the battlefield it's fine."
Hashirama didn't look serious; he didn't directly attack the five patriarchs. The five patriarchs could sense that something's wrong; thus, they didn't act upon it. They had three times the numbers of the Senju. So a long drawn fight is advantageous for them.
However, after half an hour, the battle went out of the six patriarchs' expectations.
Tobirama, unexpectedly, was facing the strongest Clansmen of the six, yet he didn't falter. He wasn't the only one, even Sora Senju also managed to handle most of the elites himself. And lastly, the Senju's Shinobi even when they fight three times their number, still manage to maintain the upper hand.
Hashirama looked fine for the whole time, even though they managed to hit him once or twice.
"Something is wrong!" The Nara patriarch muttered to himself, "If the Senju were this strong, then they should have already united the country of fire long ago!"
The Nara patriarch didn't see anything out of the ordinary at first. Until he saw a small something attached to the Senju.
"Huh? A medical type of Kuchiyose? So…" Nara turned and said, "Aburame Patriarch, pay attention to the Uzumaki."
"Something is wrong about his Chakra; it seems only half than before." The Aburame patriarch replied.
"Of course…" The Nara patriarch turned to the Hatake patriarch, "Hatake patriarch, quickly finish him! The Uzumaki are using a medical type Kuchiyose to heal the Senju!"
"Ah, it's found out…" Masahiko then stood up, and so does the Hatake patriarch who also pulled his sword from its sheath.
Hatake patriarch conjunct his blade with chakra making it more sturdy and sharp. It looked like it can cut anything into two halves!
"White Light Chakra Sabre?" Masahiko whispered: "The sword of the famous Konoha's hero, it exists now? What a surprise!"
The Hatake patriarch waved his knife to Masahiko, then fell from the top of Masahiko's head.
As Masahiko was supposed to be split in two… poof Masahiko suddenly turned into a wooden log.
"Replacement Technique?" The Hatake patriarch raised his brow.
The White Light Chakra Sabre emits a streak of white chakra that follows when swung. Since the Hatake patriarch practice this technique a multitude of times. He reached a level when almost no one could escape his blade, the erratic movement is hard to follow.
Masahiko felt he was being locked, but his LV10 Three-Bodies-Technique is not just for show, he at least can fool the Hatake patriarch.
"Whew… A close call…" Masahiko sighed with relief. "So what's that nonsense you were saying about finishing me in a flash again? Hah?" Masahiko said with a grin on his face.
Masahiko teased the Hatake patriarch with Usopp's sly sigh from One Piece. And man did it made the Hatake patriarch furious!
He didn't say anything but leaped with his sword pointed to Masahiko. Honestly, this is just an ordinary blade, but the chakra infusion is what makes this blade very strong.
Masahiko didn't make another substitute. He was worried that he's gonna consume his chakra, so he kept his focus on sending chakra to the slug, and prepared his Status Bar opened to add more witness points if things went ugly.
Since the Sikkotsu Forrest training and the point distribution, Mashiko's Physical has exceeded 300. In terms of pure technique capability, he's already way stronger than Hatake patriarch.
He took his own sword and started a sword-fight. Even though he's not as terrifying as the Hatake patriarch, but his own swordsmanship and three-body-skills prove to be enough.
The battle lasted for half an hour. Masahiko chakra is almost depleted; he gradually fell into a disadvantage. Fortunately, the Hatake Patriarch Chakra is not big too, so he also was losing a vast amount of his combat strength.
At that point, the situation on the other side became apparent; the Senju was riding the wind. They had the absolute upper hand over the other six-clan forces!
The Nara patriarch shook his head, "One wrong move… This is all it took for us to lose… "Nara thought, then said: "Senju patriarch, let's stop this fight and avoid any more unnecessary casualties."
"As for the distribution of the ore, since you seem to be confident fighting the five of us, then let this fight decide who win all and lose all!"
Then he turned around and looked at the other patriarch, "I already decided, does anyone have another opinion?"
The other four noticed the situation on the battlefield. Upon seeing how their clansmen are getting beaten, they didn't oppose it.
When he heard this, Hashirama shouted, "Tobirama! Take the others to safety, leave the rest to me!"
Meanwhile, the fight between Masahiko and Hatake's Patriarch was still going. However, it got interrupted by the two sides' forces retreating.
Therefore, Masahiko and the Patriarch were forced to stop and follow their allies.
Masahiko wanted to finish this fight and finally prove himself, but he didn't want to do it against Hashirama's will.
Therefore, he recovered the little Katsuyu and left the battlefield, knowing the result, after all, he trusted Hashirama's strength even more than Hashirama himself.
At this time, in the center of the battlefield, only Hashirama and the five patriarchs remained.
The Showdown is about to begin!